diff --git a/includes/admin/wc-admin-functions.php b/includes/admin/wc-admin-functions.php
index be7dfa39a42..d56a72829c8 100644
--- a/includes/admin/wc-admin-functions.php
+++ b/includes/admin/wc-admin-functions.php
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ function wc_save_order_items( $order_id, $items ) {
 			$item_data = array();
 
 			foreach ( $data_keys as $key => $default ) {
-				$item_data[ $key ] = isset( $items[ $key ][ $item_id ] ) ? wc_clean( wp_unslash( $items[ $key ][ $item_id ] ) ) : $default;
+				$item_data[ $key ] = isset( $items[ $key ][ $item_id ] ) ? wc_check_invalid_utf8( wp_unslash( $items[ $key ][ $item_id ] ) ) : $default;
 			}
 
 			if ( '0' === $item_data['order_item_qty'] ) {
diff --git a/includes/wc-formatting-functions.php b/includes/wc-formatting-functions.php
index 0d94c0e2a22..0c8d439b70a 100644
--- a/includes/wc-formatting-functions.php
+++ b/includes/wc-formatting-functions.php
@@ -377,6 +377,20 @@ function wc_clean( $var ) {
 	}
 }
 
+/**
+ * wp_check_invalid_utf8 with recursive array support.
+ *
+ * @param string|array $var Data to sanitize.
+ * @return string|array
+ */
+function wc_check_invalid_utf8( $var ) {
+	if ( is_array( $var ) ) {
+		return array_map( 'wc_check_invalid_utf8', $var );
+	} else {
+		return wp_check_invalid_utf8( $var );
+	}
+}
+
 /**
  * Run wc_clean over posted textarea but maintain line breaks.
  *